Giotto encounters Halley's Comet 1986

This fantastic 60s-style poster celebrated the 1986 encounter between Giotto - ESA's first deep-space mission - and Comet Halley, which took place in the night between 13-14 March 1986. The poster comprises an enlargement of an image of the comet nucleus taken by the Halley Multicolour Camera from a distance of about 25 700km; an artist's impression of the Giotto satellite is overlaid at right.

Giotto was designed to help solve the mysteries surrounding Comet Halley by passing as close as possible to the comet's nucleus; no one expected the spacecraft to survive its battering from comet dust during this encounter, but although Giotto was damaged during the flyby, most of its instruments remained operational. The mission was extended to allow an unprecedented encounter with a second comet, Grigg-Skjellerup, on 10 July 1992.

Giotto's 'firsts':

• Europe's first deep space mission
• First close-up images of a comet nucleus
• First spacecraft to encounter two comets
• First deep space mission to change orbit by returning to Earth for a gravity assist
• Discovered the size and shape of Comet Halley's nucleus
• Made the closest comet flyby to date by any spacecraft (c. 200 km from Comet Grigg-Skjellerup)
• Discovered a black crust and bright jets of gas on the nucleus of Comet Halley
• Measured the size, composition and velocity of dust particles near two comets
• Measured the composition of gas produced by two comets
• Discovered unusual magnetic waves near Comet Grigg-Skjellerup

Giotto was operated from the European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany.

More information on Giotto

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